Ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said the Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua (SDL) is free to contest the elections under the 1997 Constitution.
Qarase said with the Constitution in place, the Interim Government can't stop the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua from going into the elections.
The SDL leader also said that the interim government should realize that the SDL is not the only party which is opposing the People's Charter process.
He was reacting to statements by the Interim Prime Minister on Monday that the Interim Government would ensure that the SDL does not contest the next elections as the SDL is continuing to oppose the National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF) and the People's Charter Process.
The SDL party at its AGM resolved that the NCBBF should be immediately dismantled as the council has no authority under the Constitution to draw a charter and the People's Charter has no authority to bind future governments elected by the people.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama said the SDL is unlikely to suit the political sphere of the country as it does not want the charter to take the country forward.
“If somebody is going to come on board with thoughts of that, then it’s also a waste of time. I get the impression that somebody has lied to Lai Qarase and told him that he is still in charge. He is not.
The Government is in charge. They should also mention that, as I’ve said before initially we were talking about SDL never again to enter the political sphere again of this country. But we thought we’d give them a break on the understanding of this charter and everybody else for that matter.
It is now apparent that they don’t want to give in. We want to maintain the corrupt free days. And so on that ground we’d rather have the election without SDL. We need to break this up. If we want to have the elections then we can’t afford to have SDL as a party with these views to be part of the political process.” Commodore Frank Bainimarama
Commodore Bainimarama said the vision of the interim government and the military is clear and that is the direction which will be taken.
“I’ll also make a comment as Commander of the RFMF. Last week I said that we need to go together on the charter. We will not talk about the legality of this government when (one) it is still in court and (two) it’s not going to help us. First, all these people who are opposing us the SDL, these church heads and some of the chiefs. Why don’t they have a look at what’s in the charter and tell us what is wrong. If it’s just about the legality of the government then it’s just a waste of time them opposing the charter. I said we need to come together on this charter before we can ever think about the election. And the charter is something that we should hold dear to our heart – it comes with our vision. A vision to get rid of corruption in Fiji." Commodore Frank Bainimarama
Meanwhile, SDL leader and ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said apart from the legality of the NCBBF, the National Council lacks independence.
"The legality of NCBBF is one issue There are very compelling reasons why we are opposing the charter process. One of the reasons is that it is not independent. It is overloaded with government ministers and active supporters of the Fiji Labour Party and the National Alliance Party. In terms of numbers there is virtually nobody there that can be said to represent the views of the largest political party in the country and that is the SDL party. Even if we agree to go in with one member, we will be completely outvoted by the overwhelming majority of the Fiji Labour Party, the New Alliance Party as well as the representatives from the government." Laisenia Qarase
Qarase also said the NCBBF should be dismantled because according to the SDL, majority of the people oppose the Charter process.
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"We are not the only ones opposing it. The National Federation Party opposes it, the UGP or Mr Beddoes opposes it,the overwhelming majority of the people of Fiji oppose the charter. On that basis, the interim regime should consider very carefully it’s progress from here onwards.It seems it does not have the backing of the majority of the people and that is sufficient ground in my view for the regime to stand still and perhaps withdraw from that process." Laisenia Qarase
Qarase said what is needed is a political forum to discuss the way forward to elections and the resources used by the NCBBF should be re-directed to other pressing priorities.
